Improvement in wardrobe-trunks



Nrring STATES "ATENT FFICEj-jixj VILLIAM J. MCCRAKEN, OF ROCHESTER, NEVYORK.

IMPROVEMENT IN WARDROBE'TRUNKS.

Specification forming part of Letters Patent No. 14,879, dated l\Iay`18, 1856.

To all whom, t may-concern:

Be it known that I, \V. J. MCCRAKEN, of Rochester, in the county ofMonroe and State of New York, have invented a new and useful Improvementin Trunks, which I term a \Vardrobe Trunk; and I do hereby declare thatthe following is a full, clear, and exact description of the same,reference being had to the annexed drawings, making a part of thisspecication, in which- Figure l is a transverse vertical section of myimprovement represented in a closed state in black and in an open andpartially-open state in red and blue. Fig. 2 is a front view of saine,represented in an open state, one of the end pieces of the upper part ofthe trunk and one of the end pieces of the sliding box being bisected.

Similar letters of reference indicate corresponding parts in the twofigures.

My invention consists in the peculiar' construction of the trunk, aswill be hereinafter fullyshown and described, whereby the trunk may withthe greatest facility be converted into a wardrobe and space stillallowed in the lower part of the trunk for receiving` such articles thatdo not require to be hung on hooks.

To enable those skilled in the art to fully understand and construct myinvention, I will proceed to describe it.

A represents the body of the trunk, which is of the usual form anddivided as usual into the parts d b, connected by hinges c at the back.

The lower part l) of the trunk has the usual box I3, iiited within it,and to the upper part of l) a supplementary lid C is attached by hingesrZ. To the under side of the lid C a pocket D is secured.

lVithin the upper part d of the trunk a sliding box E is placed. Thisbox has a handle e on its outer end, which end forms the front side ofthe upper part of the trunk. A hook f is attached to the inner end ofthe box, which hook is fitted in a staple g in the inner side of theback part of the part d of the trunk, said hook securing the box Withinthe part a. (See Fig. l.) The box E is not closed at its inner end, andthe lower or under side of the box is formed of two doors h h, which arehinged to the box. The upper side of the box has hooks/attached to it.The upper side of' the box E has a slidej fitted to it and the two doorsZt h have part-s Zt k jointed to them, so that when the box E iswithdrawn from the partctof the trunk it maybe lengthened by. shovingout the slide j and turning down or outward the parts Zt' 7tat the lowerends of the doors 7L 7L.

To the inner side ofthe Lipper partaof the trunk there are attached byjoints or hinges strips Z Z, one at each end of the part d. The outerends of these stri ps are provided with dovetails m, as shown clearly inblue, Fig. l.

The under side of the part a of the trunk has a lid F attached to it byhinges n, and a supporto is attached to the back part of said lid byhinges Ap.

Zhen the trunk is closed, the several parts are in the position as shownin Fig. l, the box E, being within the upper part d of the trunk andsecured therein by the hook f, the doors Zt 71, being closed and lockedand the slidej secured in proper position by bolts.

Then the part ct of the trunk is raised in a horizontal position, thelid F may be raised, the doors h h opened, and articlesplaeed within thebox E. Thus it will be seen that nearly the same room is obtained inthis trunk, when used as a trunk, as in the ordinary ones. The trunk isconverted into a wardrobe by removing the hook f from the staple g andthen withdrawing the box E from the part (t oi' the trunk. The strips ZZ are then raised to a vertical position, the dovetails -m being fittedin corresponding recesses in the ends of the box E. The strips Z Zproject some distance above the box E; but by shoving down the slidejand securing it by the bolts g, and turning down the parts 7c 7s of thedoors l1., the box E will be lengthened and form acontinuation of thepart d of the trunk. The parts when thus arranged will form a wardrobe,clothes being hung on the hooks t'.

The lower part l) of the trunk may be used as usual for receiving suoliarticles of cloth ing as are not liable to be injured by being folded.

The lid C may be provided with a lock and also the doors h.

The above improvement is a valuable one, for persons when traveling andstopping at hotels are often compelled to keep their clothes in theirtrunks. Ladies dresses are particularly liable to be creased or injuredby desk, as shown by the black dotted lines,

Fig. 1.

What I claim as my improvement, and desire to secure by Letters Patent,is-

l. The construction and arrangement of the supporting-strips Z Z in theportion of the trunk a for uniting the sliding portion of the Wardrobe Eto the part a of the trunk, as and for purposes mentioned in theforegoing specieation.

2. The construction and arrangement of the lid F and supporter 0,'asCombined and arranged with the portion of the trunk a, for purposesmentioned in the foregoing specilication. Y

WM. J. MCCRAKEN.

Witnesses:

WM. TUsoH, JAMES F. BUCKLEY.

